THE ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H-M-S BEAGLE, FISHES, DARWIN

Ky u THE ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S BEAGLE, UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN FITZROY, R.N DURING THE YEARS 1832 TO 1836 PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY lEUttcB anB S>upeiintcnUeB CHARLES DARWIN, ESQ ii? M.A F.R.S F.G.S., Etc NATURALIST TO THE EXPEDITION PART IV FISH, BY THE REV LEONARD JENYNS, M.A., F.L.S., &c LONDON: PUBLISHED BY SMITH, ELDER, AND MDCCCXLII CO 65, CORNHILL LONDON PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAV, OLD BAIL£T FISH, lifsirn'bfli THE REV LEONARD JENYNS, bv M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S FELLOW OF THE CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND, AND OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OP NATURAL HISTORY ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS INTRODUCTION The number of species of Fish described or noticed in the following Part of the Zoology of the Beagle, amount to 137 It is right to observe that, judging from Mr Darwin's manuscript notes, relating to what he obtained in this department, this is probably not more than half the entire number which he collected Unfortunately a large portion of the valuable collection sent home by him arrived in country in too bad this condition for examination, and was necessarily rejected by Mr Darwin, and at every one of which more or fewer species of fish were obtained, were the Cape Verde Islands,— the coast of Brazil, including the mouth of the Plata, together with several inland rivers and streams in that district,— the coasts of Patagonia, and the Santa Cruz river, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands,— the Archipelago of Chiloe,— the The localities visited — — Peru,— the Galapagos Archipelago, Tahiti, New Zealand, King George's Sound in Australia, and, lastly, the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean The great bulk of the species, however, are from the coasts, east coasts of Chile and — and west, of South America The particular locality assigned to each species respectively in the following work may be relied upon as correct pains having been taken by Mr Darwin to affix a small ticket of tin, with a number stamped upon it, to each specimen, and to enter a note immediately in the manuscript catalogue, having the same number ; attached on the In only three or four instances these tickets were found wanting, arrival of the collection in this country A considerable portion of the species examined and described are new to science, especially of those collected in South America, and the adjoining Islands and Archipelagos at least, constituting apparently seven new The new ones are supposed to more than half the entire number genera ; amount to seventy-five and amongst these are INTRODUCTION VI be interesting to state more particularly from what localities the new species principally come, and what proportion they bear to the entire number brought from each of those localities Thus from Brazil about, half are considered It new ; may — from Patagonia a< least half; — fromTierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, without exception and nearly all and the Galapagos Archipelago, Of the species brought from from Chiloe, and the coasts of Chile and Peru This Tahiti, New Holland, and the Indian Ocean, not above one-fourth are new might have been anticipated from the better knowledge which we have of the Ichthyology of that quarter of the globe, than of South America It is much to be regretted that the portion of the collection which has been lost to science, was obtained in localities most abounding in novelties, judging from that portion of it which has been saved Thus, not above five or six species will be found noticed in the following work, from Tierra del Fuego, where Mr Darwin took especial pains to collect all he could, and, judging from his manuscript catalogue, he must probably have obtained between thirty and forty all are neic, From ; the Falkland Islands again, there have been only saved two out of fifteen or sixteen, — from the coasts of Chile and Peru, not half the entire number obtained, and not above half from the coasts of Patagonia There is also described not above half the species brought from King George's Sound, and the Keeling Islands but as the Indian and Australian species, or at least the former, have been more frequently brought to Europe than the South American, they are less to be regretted than these last It is fortunate that the ivhole of the species obtained by Mr Darwin in the Galapagos Archipelago, amounting to fifteen, have been preserved, and are ; described in the following pages It may now be useful to mention, to what groups principally — first, the entire number of described species belong, and, secondly, that portion of them which are considered new Both these points will be best judged of from the following table, in which the whole collection is parcelled out according to the families ACANTHOPTERYGII Percid*: Entire No of species 18 whereof MULLID^ Triglid^ CoTTIDiE 10 ScoRP^NiDa; Sci^ENIDffi Sparid*: M;enid,e CH^TODONTIDa; new 11 2 45 22 Brought INTRODUCTION MALACOPTERYGII SiLURiDiE Entire No of species whereof CvPRINIDiE EsociD^ Salmonid^ Clupeid* PLEDRONECTlDa; • new [probably more.] 30 21 Brought up VU INTRODUCTION Till they amount to five-sixths of the whole all the species are apparently new The Clupeidce are an exception, in which All the species described, belonging to the three families above mentioned, in which there are so many new, viz the Siluridcs, the Cyprinidce, and Salmonidce, are from South America, and the Falkland Islands, excepting one from New Zealand Of the remaining presumed in river, be new One of these is a species of Perca, from the Santa Cruz South Patagonia the second is a species of Dules, from the river to ; Matavai, in Tahiti ; however, this last The fresh-water fishes in the collection, three out of five are entire and the entire is the third a species of Atherma, from Valparaiso Perhaps, not strictly an inland species number of fresh-water species in the number of new ones amongst these proportion of these latter collection is twenty-three, eighteen is The large a circumstance in confirmation of a remark which is Cuvier has somewhere made, that the fresh-water fishes of foreign countries are much less known and understood than those found on the coasts It may serve also as a hint to future travellers The seven new genera in the collection the Galapagos Archipelago; — one three to the Slennidce, whereof one to is belong — one to the Scicenidce, from the Scombrido', from North Patagonia; from the Archipelago of Chiloe, the second from the Falkland Islands, and the third from New Zealand ; —one to the Ci/- embracing three species, from South Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and New Zealand and, lastly, one to the SalmonidcB, embracing two species from the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego respectively It has been already mentioned, that all the species obtained by Mr Darwin prinidcB, ; Galapagos Archipelago have been preserved As they are likewise all new, and those islands appear to have been scarcely visited by any naturalist previously, it may be interesting to enumerate the several genera to which they in the number of species belong, and the Serranus in each genus respectively Fam PERCIDiE species Prionotus TRIGLIDiE SconpaiNA SCORP^NIDiE Prionodes N.G Pristipoma Latilus Chrysophrys GOBIUS COSSYPHUS GOBIESOX MUR«NA Tetrodon I SCI^NID^E SPARID.*: GOBIDiE I CYCLOPTERID.B ANGUILLID^ 15 ACANTHOPTERYGII LABRID^ > TETRODONTIDjE MALACOPTERYGII PLECTOGNATHI, INTRODUCTION IX In making the foregoing estimates, as regards the number of new species brought home by Mr Darwin, I have been guided ahnost entirely by my own The judgment however, of ascertaining, in a miscellaneous collection difficulty, what are really new to science, is much increased, where an author is situate apart which he might have recourse for comparison of this nature, brought from various very great and ; this difficulty is from large public museums some of those described as new Possibly, therefore, not be so in reality is known ; in the following work, may and, in one instance, as mentioned in the Appendix, this My be the case to to localities, excuse, however, must rest upon what has been hoped that caution has been generally shown, at least in regard and, in several such cases, in to specimens not in a good state of preservation practicable, though they could not be description was hardly which an accurate referred to any known species, they are not positively declared new, nor any names imposed upon them whatever I have, of course, consulted throughout the invaluable volumes of Cuvier and Valenciennes, so far as they have yet advanced in the subject and in them it will be found that a few species, brought by Mr Darwin from South America, and still but little known, had nevertheless been previously obtained from the same country by M Gay The zoological atlasses of the three great French just stated It is ; — — ; voyages by Freycinet, Duperrey and D'Urville have been also carefully looked through and, in regard particularly to the fish of South America, the works of Humboldt, Spix and Agassiz, and the more recent one, now in course of pub; by M D'Orbigny lication, There is an equal difficulty felt by every distinguishing species from varieties And much removed from peculiar element, and so naturalist at the present day, in in the case of Fish, residing in our observation, a — we are almost at a know, at present, to what extent their characters may be modified by local and accidental causes, or how far we may trust a difierent geographical position for giving permanence and value to a slight modification of form Still less easy is different from what occurs in the species of our own seas instances in which it it to determine the true importance of characters, in is only permitted to see a single specimen of the kind, or, at most, very few loss to individuals Many mistakes, therefore, are liable to occur, in a from the above sources manent confusion doubt fail is will to prevent their this nature, arising creating any per- in the science, is to describe all species of entertained, in such detail, of being recognized They The only way work of by any which the least and with such accuracy, that they may not observer, to whom they may occur a second time not then continue to hold a false position in the system, as spurious X INTRODUCTION — may not be species at all, but they which has been committed will be at once mistake be know?i ; and any rectified, any new name which has been wrongly imposed, immediately degraded They may species not be new, or they will — to a synonym and I have in some inwhich are certainly not new, but which I did not find described by previous authors with all the detail that was requisite for completely identifying them or, leaving out what they have noticed, I have added such characters as they have omitted My main object has been to render all the species, whether rightly named or not, easily recognizable and, however little the science may be advanced by what is brought forward, to make Accordingly I have been careful in this respect; stances, given full descriptions, even of species ; ; that advance, so far as The method will it goes, sure of description, and the mode of computing the fin-ray formula, be found conformable to the plan adopted in the " Histoire des Poissons" of Cuvier and Valenciennes ; a work which, in so many respects, must always serve as a model to labourers in this department of zoology The colours, in the great majority of instances, were, fortunately, noticed by Mr Darwin in the recent state The nomenclature employed by him for the purpose is that of Patrick Syme and he informs me, that a comparison was always made with the book in hand, previous to the exact colour in any case ; being noted Darwin, I Where have observed any markings I have added them myself; and, in left most instances, unnoticed by Mr I have given the general disposition of the colours as they appear in spirits, from the circumstance much by the liquor, and liable to mislead those, who have only the opportunity of seeing them in preserved specimens This is what Cuvier and Valenciennes have frequently done in their Avork and from them I have borrowed the practice In a work of this nature, it has not been thought desirable to enter into any discussion of the principles of scientific arrangement, or to effect any change in systems already received its main object being the description of species For of their being often so altered ; ; have taken the groups almost exactly as they stand in the " Histoire des Poissons" of Cuvier and Valenciennes, or in the " Regne Animal" of the this reason, I former : yet there is reason to believe that many parts of their system will be found hereafter to require some modification, especially in regard to families and genera which have for their distinctive character the presence or absence of vomerine or palatine teeth The small value which is to be attached to such character is dwelt upon pointed out in some instances in the following work, and much Msk I'l %^ Jpp&ndix ^ ^'^n^- ^"^^^^^^f^,^^^^^ ^itW'^w^*!;^-^; Wa.i^i Iwu